Christie's appoints Derek Gillman to new role of Chairman, Impressionist & Modern Art, SVP, the Americas

New York - Christie’s New York announces the appointment of Derek Gillman to the new role of Chairman, Impressionist & Modern Art, SVP, The Americas. The former Executive Director and President of the Barnes Foundation began on January 5th, 2015. Mr. Gillman is based in New York and will work very closely with Giovanna Bertazzoni, International Head of Impressionist & Modern Art and Brooke Lampley, International Director, Impressionist & Modern Art, and their team of specialists. Tapping his deep experience and wide network of relationships, Gillman will nurture client relationships and support business strategy around the world for the department. In this role, Gillman will report directly to Marc Porter, Chairman, Christie’s Americas.

Gillman brings to Christie’s a wealth of knowledge and experience. He has overseen distinguished collections of 19th and 20th century art on three continents, beginning in 1985 with the exceptional representation of Giacometti, Bacon and Moore at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. Most recently, from 2006-2013, he stewarded the Barnes Foundation’s celebrated holdings of Ce´zanne, Renoir, van Gogh, Seurat, early Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani and Soutine to a new home in central Philadelphia.

“Derek has an unbelievably strong global network of art collectors that he has cultivated during his extensive and distinguished career in the art world.” said Marc Porter, Chairman, Christie’s Americas. “Those relationships, coupled with his knowledge about the Impressionist & Modern fields, will be a tremendous asset to the global Impressionist & Modern team at Christie’s. We are thrilled to have him join us.”

“I’ve been privileged in my career to contribute to public institutions in a leadership role in England, Australia and the U.S., and also to have worked on five significant building projects. The capstone of my public career was the unique opportunity to be part of the renewal of the Barnes Foundation, which made Albert Barnes’ unparalleled collection of impressionist and modern art much more accessible to the public.” said Gillman. “The idea of now moving from public service to Christie’s, where I started my career over 30 years ago, and doing something different, is both stimulating and exciting. I very much look forward to this new chapter.”

“We are all very excited to collaborate with such an esteemed scholar in the Impressionist & Modern art space,” said Brooke Lampley, International Director, Impressionist & Modern Art.

“Derek’s insight and perspective will be invaluable to both our team and our clients. We consider his joining us to be a key asset to our department globally,” added Giovanna Bertazzoni, International Head of Impressionist & Modern Art. The Americas department will continue to be led by Ms. Lampley, who assumed the role of SVP, Head of Department in 2012 and was recently promoted to International Director.

Aside from his knowledge of modern western art and the modernist movement, Gillman has academic interests in Chinese art and cultural property. He was an undergraduate at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he read Chinese Studies, after which he spent a year at the Beijing Languages Institute. He then worked in the Chinese art department at Christie’s London, from 1977-1981, before moving to the British Museum as Research Assistant for Chinese Art. He was Keeper (Director) of the Sainsbury Centre at the University of East Anglia from 1985-95, during which time he received a Master of Laws degree, and became Deputy Director of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne in 1995; from 1999- 2006, he was Director and then President of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, which received the National Medal of Arts on its 200th anniversary in 2005.

Gillman will continue his present relationship with Drexel University, as Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Westphal College of Media Arts and Design, serving as a guest speaker and consultant for the Department of Art & Art History and the Museum Leadership graduate program. The 2nd edition of his book The Idea of Cultural Heritage was published by Cambridge University Press in 2010, and is now being translated into Chinese. In 2013, he was invited to the American Academy in Berlin as Marina Kellen French Distinguished Visitor.